Chapters 23, 24 and 25 Summary

Chapter 23 - Lucky Texts - Narration at the beginning of this section reveals that Buddy and Laura spend less time at the apartment after Marietta arrived, and that Marietta never feels the excitement in CJ's arms that she felt in Buddy's. Narration also reveals that Marietta joins the choir, and that Laura finally implements Buddy's idea to announce gambling numbers from the stage of the church. She starts giving out numbers and Lucky Texts as part of their services, and collects a quarter for each Lucky Text from each person in the congregation. As she lists several texts, members of the congregation shout out their gratitude and Buddy shouts out that there will probably be some numbers played with those texts the next day. Essie comments that Buddy always takes things the wrong way, but Laura ignores her and introduces the...